Stevie-Ray, I'm willing to bet that your wife probably does any rehab therapy that she can handle; I'm also betting that she'd probably also advise others to maintain their bodies as best they can, whatever their circumstances may be.

My old sensei used to work with some MS sufferers on simple breathing exercises. Sometimes it was all they could do, but even that helped somewhat, physically and mentally. For some folks, lifting a finger is a huge deal - and they work very hard to be able to lift the finger. One girl he was working with was literally in tears when she was able to make her index finger work, at all.

[JerryM, the point is that ANY increase in fitness can help, in all sorts of ways.]

I would agree, but that is not the way the title is stated. It does not say to get or stay as fit as you can, but that Physical Fitness is a MUST.
A must for what? Can one who is not fit defend himself or not? I believe the general thinking of many is to get fit, take martial arts, and be ready to defeat a gang.

A statement in the OP indicated that one, at any age, should be able to ward off an attack. That totally ignores the heart troubles and other physical limitations many of us have.

I just do not agree with the basic premise.

Jerry

__________________
Ecclesiastes 12:13 *¶Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 *For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

JerryM, I don't think most people are going to become Bruce Lee, Urijah Faber, or anything similar.

I do think that many people would be surprised by how easy it is to use a little leverage to gain just enough time and space to draw their weapon, after an attack or grab by a BG.

But some mobility is required for that. In such an instance, a fractional difference in strength, endurance, or balance might be all the difference in the world.

So, while I don't think one should have unrealistic expectations, I do think that anybody who is really serious about effective self-defense should put some effort into optimizing what they have, at a physical level.

Plus, there are some times when, and places where, we simply can't carry. I always have my center of gravity (the hands, feet, etc are simply extensions of that center, and can do surprising things when synched properly with it).

The thing with MS is that there is generally remission, and during such it is as though there is no disease. These are definitely the times MS sufferers need to catch up on their exercise.

MS has a number of categories, including relapsing-remitting and progressive.
These are indications of the outwards symptoms of the disease, and are not an indicator of the actual progress of the disease in the CNS.

Even during a period of remitting the damage done is still there, and certain stressors can cause symptoms that have remitted to show up again.

One very common stressor is heat.
Anything that raises the body temperature can cause symptoms to reappear.

For many years if I could not even walk in temperatures above 90 F for more than about 20 feet.
As soon as my body temperature moved up even slightly the old symptoms of loss of control of leg muscles and no position sense for my extremities returned.

How MS affects any individual patient is a complete crap shoot.
It depends on the location of the damage in the CNS.
Optical effects are common since we rely on our vision heavily, and tend to be sensitive to any distortions.
Walking takes a lot of coordination between the brain, senses and muscles. The length of the nerves to reach the lower extremities increases the chance of a problem affecting them.
The fact that you need both afferent (motor and descending) and efferent (sensory and ascending) nerve conduction only makes the places that can cause observable symptoms larger. You cannot walk if you cannot both control and know the position of your body parts.

One of the tests (before MRI) for MS was to immerse the patient in a tank of hot water and see if their symptoms became worse.

Even with MRI to locate lesions in the CNS, many do not produce any overt symptoms, while others can be clearly ties to symptoms being exhibited.

The inability to exert resistance during ‘automated’ exercise decreases its possible benefit.

My wife and I work out 5 days a week to Fit TV in the morning.
I then do IDPA competition shooting once a week and target shooting twice a month.
I dry fire and do reload practice once a week
Once a month I get training from a professional competition shooter.

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